Work day 6

Back to work we went for another productive day with great weather. We were able to finish up many of the small tasks from last week so that tomorrow we can start on plastering the walls. Half of the team spent the majority of the day mortaring the walls in preperation for the plastering.  The window sills are 100% done, the electrical is as done as we can do for now, and the prep/repair of the walls are 98% done. We also hope to have a plumber come and show us/help us with the plumbing tomorrow in the 3rd dormitory, our electricians will become our plumbers as of tomorrow. And of course we can't forget our faithful painters who just keep trucking away.

So here are a few pictures, you may notice we had one member missing from our team today. Rudy needed to make an unexpected visit to the dentist and God was awesome as He always is and an appointment was made promplty and easily for Rudy this afternoon. After a temporary fix he is feeling better and I am sure will be first on the bus to get back to work tomorrow. 

Anita was appointed mortar mixer for the day.

Jeanette showing off her other "trowel," her gloved hand that is easier to use for some of us.

Lloyd, Byron and Ron hoping to get the cement mixer fixed so that once we start plastering the walls we don't have to do all the mixing by hand.

At first you may wonder what Jeff is doing as he appears to just be standing there, but he is still working, holding a pipe in place that he just mortared into the floor.

Karen looking cheerful as she continues to paint.

Starting to prep the 2nd dormitory for its new paint job.

Camouflaged Ann working away.

Below and above are pictures of a completely repaired room ready to go for tomorrow. There are 7 in total in the 3rd dormitory that were finished up today. 

Thanks again for checking the blog and all your support.
To God be the Glory!

Day of rest

And that is exactly what we did, rest. Many of us slept in this morning. We met at 11:00 to go to the mall only to find out that it does not open till 2:00 on Sundays, many of the women think the men planned it that way. We then went to a Churrascaria (Brazilian BBQ) for lunch and enjoyed a feast before heading to the beach where we naped, walked and read the afternoon away. With a last stop for ice cream before heading back to the hotel to end our day. Here are just a few pictures...

That was one tasty pig, and we can say that as most of us had a piece of his rump.



We set up camp for the day.



We head back to work tomorrow so please keep praying for safety, productivity, good weather, and guidance as our week starts.
Just a quick shout out, Happy Birthday Mary Jane!!

Work day 5

Yet another successful and great day. We only worked till 3:00, as opposed to our usual 5:30. we then went out for a pizza supper where we all ate too much and enjoyed every possible kind of pizza imaginable, including a wide variety of dessert pizzas.
I promise these are new pictures from today, if you look closely most of our outfits are different even though our work remains very much the same. Next week we will be doing some different work as we are hoping to start plastering the walls of the 3rd dormitory.

Julie, Ann and Karen (below) doing their thing, could probably almost paint in their sleep by now.



 

Jeff above and Lloyd below finishing up their wiring.



 

Dwight mortaring the electrical boxes in place while Jeanette makes the perfect size brick to fit the empty hole in the wall.



Rudy putting in the last wood frame for the window sill. We were able to finish those to completion today.

Wilf had all the right tools today to get the toilettes working in the ladies bathroom in the dining hall.



After lunch we played a round of "guess the height of this bamboo."



Everyone taking a good look before getting their official guesses in.

After recording all the guesses the winner was...Julie. It measured exactly 50' 2" or 15.3 meters. Her guess was 50.' The guess that was off the most was 72' and therfore the next round of ice cream is on Jeanette.



With some tasks being completed the majority of the team joined in to finish the day up with some mortaring of the electrical pipes/boxes.

A group picture with Artur(CVM), Priscilla (CVM) and Ron (an American missionary in Florianopolis who translates for us). Lt to Rt: Wilf, Karen, Ron, Priscilla, Artur, Jeanette, Lloyd, Anita, Jeff, Julie, Byron, Dwight, Ann, Shirley, Rudy

We will not be heading to the rehab center tomorrow as it is a day of rest so we look forward to sleeping in and possibly soaking up some more sun and brazilian culture. We cannot thank you enough for all you support and your prayers.

To God be the Glory!

Work day 4

And the work continues. We had perfect weather today, cloudy in the morning but it cleared up late morning and didn't get too hot during the day. However, it did rain for some or most of last night so we arrived to a wet work site that didn't end up interfering with our work at all.

Our trench was filled with multiple puddles.



And the patched and primed walls looked wetter then we had left them yesterday.

Back to work at the same task as yesterday, Jeanette and Dwight continueing to repair the holes in the brick walls of the 3rd dormitory.



Julie and Ann continueing to prep and paint the walls of the dining hall.



Byron and Lloyd starting to feed the large wires into the plastic pipe that we dug the trench for.



Getting the wires all the way through the 45 meter plastic pipe required lots of assistance, 6 in total.



And then getting the pipe into the trench also required many hands.



Byron and Lloyd getting it through the tricky parts.



Everyone getting back to their previous tasks, Wilf and Shirley working on pouring the window sills.



Julie getting up to every height.



Karen getting in all the cracks and crannies.



And that was all before lunch. Lloyd taking his first post lunch nap of the trip.



Time to fill in the trench, Jeff getting started.

This is a room in the dormitory before the holes are filled and the sill is poured.

And this is a room that has been all patched except for the window sill that still has to be poured. Just to give you an idea of the difference. Shirley is sweeping the floors in this picture, even such simple tasks are needed to be done.

Over all we had a great day and we had no injuries, not even minor ones.

There is one story that is must be shared with you today. It was such an encouragement to hear and boosted the spirits of our team today. So please read on.

As most of you know the rehab center is not currently in operation due to government funding cuts as well as stimpulations implemented on the center for fire prevention and a laundry facility. It is different and odd to be working at the center with no residents working along side us, or eating lunches and coffee breaks with us. It is unknown exactly what the future of the center is though there are several positive possibilities. It can be discouraging at times to think all this time and money has been spent to help the center become the facility it is today yet it sits empty as we continue to work. After saying all that, here is the encouraging story...

We had concrete and a few other supplies delivered to the center today by a local hardware store. One of the delivery drivers came in while we were on our afternoon coffee break to let us know that 5 years ago he was a resident at the center and had completed the 9 month program offered by the center. He has been clean since that time with a job and expressed his gradatued for all we were doing and what the center did for him and his life. It was such a cool story, so often we will see the men at the center but have no idea how many will succeed once they leave the safety and support of the center. This man could tell us his success story, such an encouragement. So please pray for our work here, that it would be used as God intended it to be used and pray that the center will also be used as it was called to be used. Also pray for those in leadership at CVM, for guidance in what the next step is for the center. I apologize I did not think fast enough and get a picture of this man or his name to share with you.

Thanks for reading! 

To God be the Glory!

Work day 3

Today was a cloudy day, so officially the temperature not as hot, yet the humidity was up and we all felt rather warm anyhow. Thankfully we had no rain until our drive home after supper.
We continued with our work/progress today and we had 4 smaller teams who worked on 4 tasks throughout the day. These included... team electrical, Byron, Jeff and Lloyd, continueing to wire the 3rd dormitory. Team painting, Karen, Julie and Ann, who continued working on the outside of the dining/kitchen hall. Team brick repair, Dwight and Jeanette, who worked on repairing all the holes in the walls of the 3rd dormitory. And team window sill, Rudy, Shirley, Wilf and Anita, who worked on framing and pouring cement into the bottom of all the windows in the 3rd dormitory.

Anita cutting Karen's capris into shorts in anticipation of the warm muggy day ahead.

Team 1

Byron putting new ends onto an extension cord, it came from North America and was useless as is.



Lloyd and Jeff untangling the fishing wire.

Check out those boxes and the many colors in the wire.

Team 2

Karen doing the cutting.

Julie putting down the tarp to protect the tiles from paint.



Ann and Julie priming.

Team 3

Rudy working on building some needed sawhorses so the electricians could reach all the heights they needed to.



Shirley prepping the last window for the wood frame, then comes pouring the concrete base. Just don't fall.



 Rudy putting the wood frames in place on the bottom of the windows.

Wilf mixing up the concrete for the window sills.

Team 4

Dwight mixing up the mortar for securing the bricks in place.

Jeanette working her magic.

Tomorrow is calling for sun again so we look forward to a possibly less humid day, though unlikely as it is still raining. Please continue to pray for safety on and off the work site, we have had no major injuries but have had a couple very minor ones.Thank you so much for reading and all your comments, your encouragement is so much appreciated.

To God be the Glory!!